Realization
by cheerful-angel57
Summary: A one-shot fic. KenjixUriko. A story of how the couple found out their feelings for each other...


**Realization**

**_A story of how Kenji and Uriko found their destiny as a couple…_**

**By cheerful angel57**

* * *

A/N: A one-shot B.R. fic. Enjoy…

Disclaimers: I don't own Bloody Roar.

* * *

'_Great,'_ Uriko thought. The mall was packed with people. It figured…

Christmas was near, and people were going Christmas shopping. She saw a large Christmas tree in the center, piled up with fake gifts all around it.

Alice waited for Uriko as she came towards her. She had on a red Santa hat, a pink jacket and slacks. She looked up at Uriko and smiled.

"There you are, Uriko! This place is totally jammed. Do you want to get some hot chocolate?" Alice asked Uriko as she nodded, smiling back.

They ascended the escalator and clambered into a big, spacious restaurant. Many people came over there after school, which probably explained why it was jam-packed.

"Seriously, Alice, this weather is cold," Uriko said. She tucked my hands inside my pockets.

"It's really like that, don't worry," said Alice. "But what I really want to try out is this." She added, giving her sister a piece of paper.

She read the paper quickly and smiled. There was an ice skating rink in the mall! Uriko loved ice-skating but she was hopelessly bad at it.

"That's great! We're going there today?" she asked her sister eagerly.

"Yes," said Alice happily and they finished the last of their hot chocolate.

They rode the escalator down to the rink. Again, it was jam-packed.

"How are we going to get through this?" she asked Alice.

"Don't worry, Uriko, I reserved a spot for us, so they can't take it," Alice reassured her.

By the time we got through the crowd, the rink was full of people. They rented our skates from the counter lady and found a bench to put on our skates.

The rink was extensive, and so was the waiting area. There was a TV close by, rerunning an old sitcom.

"Nice place," Uriko commented and she began tying up the shoelaces of her skates.

"Yeah, but wait till you get on ice." Alice said, finishing her skates and going ahead.

The young brown-haired teenager watched her sister do a figure eight on ice.

"Okay, I'm getting in," Uriko told her.

The ice was slippery and cold. And for beginners like her, it was totally hard to skate.

She held on the rail and decided to go one round around the rail until she got used to the ice. That's what she used to do before, when Mitsuko took her ice-skating. After Uriko finished that round, she started going around. She spread my arms and relaxed as she skated on the ice.

She closed her eyes, feeling the cool relaxation as she glided across the ice.

Suddenly she felt a shadow looming over her, and her sharp reflexes told her to move. They were about to collide!

"URIKO!" yelled a voice from nearby, which she knew was Alice's.

She bumped into the person and they both toppled over.

'**_OW!'_** she thought and fought the impulse to scream for pain.

The pretty teenager turned around on her knees, and saw the person whom she bumped into. She suddenly felt a hot blush rise up to her cheeks. It was a guy! He was standing up. "Hey, you okay?" he asked.

'_Ohmigosh,'_ she thought. _'It's Kenji! Kenji Ohgami!'_

"Uriko! I didn't know it was you!" said Kenji, scratching his head.

At the same time he said that, she said, "Kenji! I didn't know it was you!"

The two teenagers laughed.

"Let me help you up," he offered.

"Um, it's okay. I can do it myself."

"No, really-" he said and took hold of my arm.

She blushed. He turned slightly red too.

Before she knew it, he helped me up and she saw a red gash on her knee. "Geez, I think I scraped it against the ice. I'm not that good in ice-skating," Uriko blurted, feeling embarrassed.

Kenji looked down at her wound and said, "Maybe you should let Alice take a look at it,"

And he added, "You know what, I'm not that good in ice-skating either."

And they both laughed.

* * *

Kenji Ohgami felt really giddy and weak in his knees. He had never felt anything like this when he was with Uriko before.

'_I haven't seen her in months, and I knew that she was a loudmouthed person before. I have a feeling that she changed. I'm glad about that because I prefer quiet people. Hey wait a minute! Was I actually thinking that I wanted to be Uriko's boyfriend?'_ He sighed, buried in his thoughts and fantasies.

He surveyed her body while she was talking to Alice. He blushed when he actually did. She was wearing white sneakers, a dark blue skirt and a pink blouse. She was also physically attractive, with the golden eyes I admired so much before.

'_Okay, maybe I have the hots for Uriko. She was so much more different than the person I thought she was before. Maybe I should get to know her some time.' _Kenji thought.

He also thought that something was sprouting between Yugo and Alice. Being Uriko's and Kenji's older siblings, they were the ones who had agreed to have lunch together. Which meant that he probably would get to spend more time with Uriko.

That was perfectly fine with Kenji. He remembered the time when he was rescued from Busuzima's brainwashing and Uriko asked for a go on his bike. He had let her, being the quiet and understanding person he was. And with her riding behind him, he never would have thought then that he would even like her more than a friend. Now the situation seemed possible.

"Earth to Kenji!"

"Huh?"

"Are you done with your daydreaming?" Yugo asked Kenji sarcastically.

He saw Uriko trying to bite her lips. She finally burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry Kenji, but if you could have seen the look on your face… it was so funny!" she choked, laughing.

Alice began to laugh too, and so did Yugo. Kenji joined in too, afterwards.

"So where do you want to go?" Uriko said, catching up to Kenji after they left the restaurant. "Alice and Yugo said we could have a little free time together!" she added cheerfully, rubbing her nose with a long sleeve.

Kenji suddenly felt awkward around her. It seemed like she could adapt to most types of situations, and he had not that ability.

"I-I don't know… what about you?"

"W-ell, I sort of wanted to go skating again. You game?" she asked playfully.

"Sure! Just make sure you don't trip again, 'cause I might not be there to catch you." He joked.

"Kenji! I won't this time, okay? I learned my lesson!" she said playfully. "Besides, what are these claws for?" she joked.

'Right… her zoanthrope form is a half beast,' He remembered.

"What are you waiting for, Kenji? Last one there is a rotten zoanthrope!" she joked.

"Not too loud!" He shouted after her, laughing and running at the same time.

After they finished ice-skating, Kenji felt like he wanted this friendship to last between them. "This is for you, Riko. I got it from a store yesterday." He gave the golden chain to Uriko, which had a locket. She was happy to receive something from Kenji to remind her about his friendship.

After that day, they didn't find time to go back to their usual friendships. The two friends may have laughed and talked, but soon they drifted away and went back to their normal lives.

* * *

**Three years later… **

'_Was it just a dream? It seemed so real.' _Uriko Nonomura sighed. She couldn't take it anymore. Her life was so OVER. She couldn't bear going to school today, but she knew she had to.

She recalled what she had dreamt last night.

(Flashback)

"_Anna, you don't know how much I love you." Kenji whispered, pulling her closer to him. Any second now, they both knew that their lives would never be the same… _

"I love you too, Kenji…" said a gorgeous teenager, her long black hair draped around her shoulders while in the passionate embrace of a certain teenager named Kenji Ohgami.

_Uriko shivered under her jacket. She was feeling cold even with her jacket on, but watching the scene unfold right in front of her made her really cold and sick. 'Why does he have to do this in front of me? Isn't it enough that when they make out in front of my locker, it makes me sick enough to make me want to go to the infirmary?' She thought, blinking back tears._

_Torture. That's what it was. She moved farther backwards, knees connecting with the floor. If only she had not fallen in love with a guy who loved someone else… but fate was cruel. It made her feel such a strong, powerful emotion._

Love…did it even exist? Yeah, she knew about all those couples making out in the rain…but what about her? Did anyone even care? Or even the boy she loved?

_She watched the only one she could ever love trap her friend in a hot, passionate kiss. Oh, how could she bear all this pain? She was breaking inside, emotions battling inside her._

"_Uriko! It's not what you think! Wait!" Kenji called after her. She had just gotten enough strength to run, to force her leg muscles to do the work for her. And fortunately, it worked. She was blinded by the dark shadows of the night, and the emotions she felt inside her began to explode, changing her physical appearance to her beast form. She had morphed into a zoanthrope-right in the middle of the street. She was in for it now. Mitsuko and Alice would probably be worried about her right now… _

_She knew she should never have followed Kenji when she saw him walking casually down the street near her home. But she couldn't resist the urge and she followed him. She didn't get anything out of it, only sorrow and more pain. She knew that he would never be hers. _

(End of Flashback)

Uriko opened her eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks. She was back to reality. For a moment fantasy had dominated her mind, and she couldn't bear the thought of Kenji with another girl. Then she realized that it was just a dream… Kenji didn't have any girl in real life.

Uriko never knew when exactly did she fall in love with Kenji Ohgami. She just knew… like it was some bolt from the blue. She just knew it… She fingered the locket he gave her that day at the skating rink.

She couldn't take it anymore. She knew that Kenji would never be hers, no matter how much she tried… He didn't even know her well. It was more of an acquaintance. It wasn't even a true friendship yet.

But she hadn't that much hope. After all, all she was to Kenji was an acquaintance he knew in their childhood and school life. Nothing more.

When she walked to school this morning, Jennifer, her friend, greeted her. "Hey, Uriko…" Jennifer said softly. She was a shy girl, unlike Uriko who was outgoing and cheerful. "Hey, Jen," Uriko replied. She was glad that her best friend was still there for her no matter what happened.

"Uriko, is there something you need to talk about?" she asked, as if she read Uriko's mind.

"Um… nothing actually," Uriko lied. She couldn't just find a way to tell Jennifer, even if she was her best friend.

"Oh come on… I know you, Riko. When you are sad, that means that something's up. Let me see… is it about Kenji Ohgami?" Jennifer said slyly.

"SH! Not so loud!" Uriko hissed. When Jen mentions her crush, she would immediately turn red and hiss to Jen to shut up.

"Fine, I'll tell you. But you have to promise to keep it an ABSOLUTE secret, or else you're in for it." Uriko warned her.

"Yeah, I know, Uriko… You told me so a hundred times, and come on, I haven't spilled a single one!" Jennifer whined.

Uriko sighed and told her best friend all about the dream. "Ohmigosh! That was a really powerful dream, Riko… I mean, Kenji Ohgami actually kissed this girl?" Jennifer said, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Yeah. And it's crowded, so we'll talk about it later." Uriko said quickly and practically pushed her friend into their classroom.

"There he is!" Jen squealed quietly in Uriko's ear, directing her gaze on a raven haired, handsome teenager in the front row. He was busy writing something on a piece of paper. "Yeah." Uriko whispered back to her friend. She took a seat far back, in the last row and Jen sat beside her.

"What are you waiting for, Riko? Talk to him! This is your chance!" Jen whispered.

"No…"

"Come on!"

"I SAID, no."

With one final sigh, Uriko sat through the rest of the class, waiting immediately for break.

* * *

Ever since the bell rang 1 minute ago, Uriko had been rushing out of the classroom as fast as she could. Jennifer was staying in the classroom to talk to their teacher, so she had gone ahead. She twisted around the hallways quickly, doing her best to avoid traffic. And she tried not to meet anyone's eyes.

She was starting to like anonymity. This was quite ironic, because Uriko wasn't a shy girl. She wasn't the type to lie back and let the others take what she wanted. Ever since she had started elementary at this school, she had been outgoing and had many friends.

But her life had changed ever since Kenji Ohgami enrolled there a year ago. She found herself acting weird in front of him, and everything she did seemed embarrassing and utterly stupid. She found lots of regretted moments then.

Then that summer, she realized that she did love Kenji. The teenage girl trembled under her realization. But all of it was stunningly true. She always found herself in the middle of a daydream during class, and teachers called her attention often. She was really clumsy whenever she was in front of him and kept regretting everything she'd done. And she found herself thinking of Kenji's near to perfection personality: his sought-after good looks, his love for peace and silence, and a nice attitude, to top it all off…

_BUMP! _Uriko looked up, her cheeks blazing red. She had just bumped into a person and fallen to the ground.

"Hey, Nonomura, you alright?" a jeering voice sounded through the crowd. But Uriko didn't answer because she was too busy gazing at the guy she had bumped into.

"Hey, Uriko. Sorry about that, I should have looked where I was going." Kenji said, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks as he helped Uriko up. Uriko was too dazed to give a proper reply.

"You okay?" Kenji asked uncomfortably, running a hand through his hair.

"Um… yeah. Sort of." Uriko replied, just as uncomfortable and nervous as Kenji was. But she was able to manage a smile and said, "Thanks for helping me up. See you around."

Without another look back, she walked away. But what she didn't know was that Kenji was staring at her, watching her disappear throughout the crowd of people.

* * *

Uriko felt that the dream must be a sign. She hoped that her dream wasn't a future sign or anything, because she was sure that it would break her heart.

'_If only you knew, Kenji…' _she thought desperately. She wanted to do something to return their friendships back to the way it was that day before. It was the most memorable day of her life. She could practically relive every image she had of Kenji, and of the way he talked to her that day. It almost seemed as if he was interested in her as more than a friend.

She blushed as she remembered that she bumped into him a while ago.

"Hey," Jen said, plunking her tray on the table. Uriko had been eating her lunch quietly, and she didn't even blink as her best friend sat down with her.

"Still thinking about Kenji, huh?" Jen said. Uriko was too busy picking with her food to answer her question.

Jen sighed, but she didn't give up on her friend. She knew that Uriko was made of more courage than that.

But before she was able to speak, Uriko began, "I don't know what to do anymore, Jen! He will never be mine."

"Don't give up just like that, Riko," Jen said, patting her friend on the back. "Kenji just doesn't know what you feel for him. Maybe he likes you too."

"Yeah, as a friend, sure he does."

Jen sighed. What could she answer to that? She didn't know what Kenji Ohgami really felt. "You know him better than I do, Uriko. Why don't you talk to him? You two are acting like your friendship didn't exist."

"But I can tell that he'd rather avoid me, you know."

There was a momentary silence between the two friends until Uriko finally spoke up again. "I'll just figure something out, Jen." Jennifer nodded and watched as her friend disappeared through the crowd.

* * *

"Uriko! I'm glad you're home," Mitsuko said heartily, giving her daughter a hug. "We're having the Ohgamis here for dinner. It's been a long time since I've seen them." Mitsuko said busily, going back to the soup she was concocting.

"I thought you go to school with Kenji." Her mother added, raising one of her eyebrows at her daughter. Uriko smiled weakly. "Um, yeah. We go to the same school."

"Okay. By the way, Alice is coming soon. Why don't you go up and change, freshen yourself up a bit, Uriko?"

Uriko didn't exchange another word with her mother and headed up the stairs until she reached her room. Then the thought sunk in. Yugo and Kenji Ohgami were going to visit them for dinner!

* * *

"Thanks for inviting us over, Mitsuko," Yugo Ohgami said. He sat down beside Alice, who was getting food casually. Uriko was seated beside Kenji and her mother. She felt so uncomfortable to sit beside the guy she supposedly loved.

Kenji gave her a smile as he sat down, and she completely melted inside. She was trying hard to eat dinner casually, hoping not to cause an incident at the table.

Mitsuko, Alice and Yugo were deep in discussion of what the other zoanthrope friends of theirs were doing at present.

"How are Jenny and Gado doing? The last that I heard of them was that they are married." Alice said.

"They're fine, knowing Gado," Yugo shot her a knowing smile. "They already have a kid, I think. He's the splitting image of Gado himself, poor kid." Yugo joked.

"Good for him," Mitsuko said, eagerness in her voice. She had just finished the glass of pineapple juice that she had accompanied with the food she had just cooked. "And how have you been doing yourself, Yugo?" she added.

"Fine, thanks. I've mostly been training with Kenji. He's getting better everyday. His stamina has grown incredibly." Yugo said proudly, looking at his brother. Kenji smiled back. "Without Yugo's help, I couldn't have become any better." Kenji commented.

"By the way, may we excuse ourselves? Uriko and I want to talk in private." Kenji said, gesturing to Uriko.

She blushed. What could Kenji possibly want to tell her? She stood up too and followed Kenji, leaving the adults to talk.

* * *

She met him in the garden. "Glad to see that you still know your way around," she commented, gazing upon his handsome face as he motioned for her to sit beside him.

"Yeah, it's been a long time since we've… you know… talked seriously." Kenji replied. There was a bit of nervousness in his voice as he spoke to Uriko.

She glanced back at him and said, "Yeah… you're right. We haven't been acting like friends since the ice-skating event."

Kenji paused, not knowing what to say. Then he began again. "There's something I want to tell you, Uriko… for a very long time now…"

Uriko smiled and turned to Kenji. "Sure. What is it?"

He seemed reluctant as he opened his mouth to speak. "It's just that… I don't want us to be just friends."

Uriko was stunned. What could he mean? That he… liked her, as more than a friend? That he wanted to be her _boyfriend? _She was speechless. Then Kenji quickly took her hand and said, "please, Uriko… don't be shocked… I've been longing to be with you for so long now… I've been thinking about you… and I can't stand not being with you… when I bumped into you in the corridor a while ago, I knew I had to tell you."

Suddenly it wasn't planned for—a tear slipped from her eye and rolled down her cheek. Kenji looked downcast, feeling that he had been rejected, even if he didn't receive an answer yet.

"Don't get me wrong, Kenji… I just want to tell you… I've been thinking about you, too." She confessed, breaking into tears.

Kenji looked up at her face again, and his hand reached up to touch her delicate face. He wiped away her tears and said gently, "Don't cry, Riko…"

Then he put his arm around her thin waist. And she noticed that her face was only a few inches from Kenji's. She leaned closer to him, reading his strong body language and closed her eyes. Their lips met in a heart-searing kiss. All their longing for each other was fulfilled. Electricity shot through both their bodies like fireworks, both of them absorbed and entangled in each other's embrace.

Uriko felt safe in Kenji's strong arms. She wished that she could stay there together for the rest of their lives. But he had to pull away. It felt like they had only kissed for a minute, but in reality it had lasted for 5 minutes.

"I'm sorry, Riko…" Kenji whispered, hugging her. "We have to go… I bet Yugo is expecting us now."

Uriko nodded, disappointed. She knew that he felt the same. "We'll find another moment for each other, I promise." Kenji reassured her as he stood up. Pain seared in her heart. She'd desperately wanted this moment to come, and it did. But time was too fast for her to comprehend.

She nodded once more as Kenji gave her another kiss.

* * *

Kenji Ohgami had to go with Yugo abroad and he would probably come back after one week's time.

Uriko made up her mind. She was going to wait for her beloved Kenji… no matter how long she had to wait. And now that she was sure Kenji loved her too… _"Uriko… I need to go overseas with Yugo. Please wait for me… I love you." _

'_I love you too, Kenji… and I'll gladly wait for you to come back…' _she thought. And once more she held her locket close to her heart.

And now the couple finally realized their bond… that they were destined to be more than just friends.

* * *

A/N: And there ends my one-shot. Okay. I had a full mind block here. I hope it isn't much too crappy. So let me know what you think… any comments, compliments or violent reactions will find its way to me. Thanks for reviewing. 


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